Roberts

Roberts, a soft red winter wheat cultivar was cooperatively developed and released by the Georgia and Florida Agricultural Experiment Stations in 1997. The major advantages of this cultivar are its high grain yield, late maturity and improved disease resistance. This cultivar is adapted throughout the south, especially in the upper Coastal plain and Piedmont regions. It is similar in lodging to GA Gore. Roberts is similar in susceptibility as Coker 9134 to leaf rust. Roberts has shown to have better resistance to Hessian fly than GA Dozier and Coker 9134. Description provided by the University of Georgia.

Breeder

Dr. Jerry Johnson

Dr. Jerry W. Johnson is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia in the Department of Crop and Soil Science where he has been leading the successful small grain breeding program and educating UGA graduate students since 1977.

Born in Perry, Ga., Dr. Johnson was raised on a family farm growing peanuts, cotton, corn, and swine. Prior to his appointment at UGA, Dr. Johnson was the small grain breeder at the University of Maryland.

His research focuses on the development of small grain cultivars and germplasm with superior productivity, disease and insect resistance, and milling and baking quality. He has released or co-released more than 33 small grain cultivars. The program identifies, incorporates and evaluates potential cultivars for their agronomic suitability and capacity to resist economically important pests such as leaf rust, powdery mildew, and Hessian fly. This research also emphasizes the identification and utilization of marker-assisted selection of genes resistant to important diseases and insects.

Dr. Johnson, named a Fellow in the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America, is the recipient of numerous state and national awards, including the Georgia Crop Improvement Association Superior Service Award (1993), Georgia Superintendent Friend of Education Award, American Society of Agronomy Career Research Award - Southern Branch (2000), University of Georgia Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award (2003), and Georgia Seedsmen Association Outstanding Service Award (2009).

Dr. Johnson graduated from Purdue University with a M.S. and a Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics. He earned a B.S. degree in Agronomy from the University of Georgia and an associate degree from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.